A creditors' meeting of Sydney-based Miller Diamonds was held yesterday at the offices of insolvency firm Jirsch Sutherland and the official liquidator, Sule Arnautovic, said, “We are now advertising the business and the assets for sale even though it [Miller Diamonds] is not trading.”
He added that the directors were assisting in the possible sale of assets.
Jeweller understands that there are a number of interested parties in the business’ Passion8 brand and Arnautovic confirmed that “there has been some interest in the business names, IP and goodwill owned by the company”.
The final debt is still unknown but Arnautovic said, “Secured creditors and priority employee creditors stand to receive a dividend, though the amount is currently unknown; unsecured creditors are unlikely to get a return at this stage, however things might change.”
While the collapse of Miller Diamonds came as a shock to the wider industry, there had been some speculation a few weeks prior that the Sydney-based diamond supplier called in the liquidators.
Shareholders and creditors appointed Jirsch Sutherland on Friday 18 July.
As previously reported by Jeweller, the cause of Miller Diamonds’ financial predicament was due to its major overseas diamond supplier “calling in” its debt.
“We were appointed by the Miller family and apart from the family and the overseas [diamond] supplier there are not many other creditors,” Arnautovic explained last week.
He added that all stones held in stock by Miller Diamonds have been returned to the European-based diamond supplier.
While the company’s appointment of a liquidator is listed on the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) website, there is still no mention of the business being placed into liquidation on Miller Diamonds’ website.
Before deciding to immigrate to Australia in the mid 1990s, the Miller family had operated a diamond business in South Africa that employed more than 250 people. It was a De Beers sightholder at the time.
Miller Diamonds is best known for its Passion8 range of diamonds, which was launched in 2001 and later its Passion8 branded jewellery range launched in 2011.
Jeweller contacted Lonn Miller, of Miller Diamonds, last week for comment but at the time he was unavailable.
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Diamond dealer placed in liquidation